"Choirworks" returns in 2022

The unique Choirworks programme was launched by the Cork international Choral Festival in January 2021 with the goal of transforming groups of work colleagues that have either never sung before (or have secretly been singing in the shower for years!) into fun, energetic and competent workplace choirs in just a few weeks! It’s enormous fun - and reunites and re-energises work colleagues that have been working alone from home for many months.

The Cork International Choral Festival are delighted to confirm that the 2022 Choirworks programme will also now be offered as a live option (yes, in-person!) as well as online, or as a hybrid of the two, no matter where in the country your workplace is. Choirworks has also now been developed from an 8-week online programme into a 14-week programme, covering more ground, and enabling more time for rehearsals and choreography.

There are also intermediate and advanced Choirworks options, with 4-week and 8-week programmes available; this will suit existing workplace choirs that might need additional support, or kick-starting again post-Covid; indeed, the winners of the Ibec Workplace Choir of the Year Competition, Fidelity Investments, had an existing workplace choir, but took part in the Choirworks programme and subsequently won the competition with their unique version of Pharrell Williams 'Happy'.

Many companies and organisations engaged staff at their local office or campus for Choirworks 2021 – but several large companies proactively encouraged involvement to their employees across the country, indeed, a couple of international corporations offered the Choirworks programme across their international campuses, which worked very well and created dialogue and friendships between colleagues who may never have otherwise been in each other’s orbit.

At the end of the Choirworks programme, all choirs will have the opportunity to enter the 2022 Ibec Workplace Choir of the Year Competition at the Cork International Choral Festival with the song which they will have been learning together and rehearsing - competing alongside other workplace choirs, many of whom will also have been taking part in Choirworks. The Ibec Workplace Choir of the Year Competition will be recorded live, and each Choirworks choir will get a video of their performance.

In 2021, the new Ibec Workplace Choir of the Year Competition also had the largest number of entries for any competition at the Cork International Choral Festival, which included choirs from Ibec, Energia, the Irish Examiner and Irish Times, A&L Goodbody, Cook Medical, Telus International, Fidelity Investments, Longford County Council, Cork University Hospital, the Central Bank, Dell, Allied Irish Bank, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, Eli Lilly, Coombe Hospital, HSE, St Kevin's Community College, Munster Technological University, and Met Eireann. Although the competition was online in 2021, we’re delighted to announce that it will be fully in-person at the 2022 Cork International Choral Festival - which will also provide great social, team building, and networking opportunities, not to mention great fun!

There has been unprecedented interest in the Choirworks 2022 programme, and the deadline for expressions of interest in the Choirworks Programme is Friday 26th November 2021. If you’d like further information, or if you have any questions, contact Kery at [email protected] or on 086 7273888.